I’ve been a John Denver fan since the early 1970s. I still know the lyrics to almost all his songs. This morning, lying in bed, his song “Goodbye Again” came immediately to my mind when I thought of our fur baby, Lily.

And it’s goodbye again, I’m sorry to be leavin’ you
Goodbye again

See, suddenly last Friday, Lily, whom I’ve written about several times, calling her my “money pit”, crossed the rainbow bridge and joined her sister, Molly, in doggy heaven.

I’d felt for a couple days that things weren’t quite right with Lily. She hadn’t been eating much which was pretty unusual for her. There were other actions too that made me feel like maybe we needed to take her to the vet and just have her checked out. Friday evening, she ate her dinner and was lying on the kitchen floor. I went to her and rubbed her head and told her what a good girl she was for eating her dinner. I walked to the stove and heard a moaning sound that was a cross between a moan and a groan and a howl, something I had never heard before. I thought it was the Great White Hunter making some kind of funny noise and by the third time I heard it, I realized it was coming from Lily, who had laid over onto her side. She moaned one more time and was silent. I stood looking at her, looking to see her chest rise. I stood there staring, watching, but…nothing. I said to Earl “I think Lily just died.” He went to her and shook her and called her name but we knew she was gone.

This is what we parents of fur babies dread the most. That day when we will have to say goodbye to our four-legged children. I knew we probably wouldn’t have her that much longer, but I always thought it would be one of the times that we’d have to make the decision. She made it for us and I guess for that I’m grateful.

It’s hard to believe they are both gone now. Molly and Lily were such a big part of our lives these last ten years. The Great White Hunter is just bereft. Those were his girls and he was definitely their preferred person. In his little man cave, it was not unusual for him to not be able to lower the foot of his recliner because one of them was lying beneath it or not be able to move his office chair because one was lying beside it, or, at times, Lily in his lap.

Now we are left with just our feline fur babies. I was petting our “Baby Kitty” the other day and told her that I would love her the rest of her life or the rest of mine, whichever came first.

We will definitely have more fur babies, hopefully, another yellow lab puppy by summer. The breeder where we got all three of our “girls”, Lucy ( 2002-2010), Molly (2010-2020) and Lily (2010-2021) has told us they are expecting a yellow litter at the end of March and if all goes well, we’re on the list for a female.